


A Romantic Thing

by panickyintheuk



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: He may be terrible at life but he has a lot of love to give okay, M/M, Pack Daddy Derek, Stiles misses his mom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-15
Updated: 2013-02-15
Packaged: 2017-11-29 10:10:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/685769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panickyintheuk/pseuds/panickyintheuk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles isn't expecting anything for Valentine's Day. Derek... maybe goes overboard a little. Which is weird, because they're not even dating.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Romantic Thing

**Author's Note:**

> Canon-divergent after S2 (i.e. things are not completely terrible).

Stiles is pretty well-acquainted with not getting anything for Valentine’s day. His grandma used to send him a card every year, but she’s getting shakier and shakier on remembering dates, and she forgets more often than she remembers these days. Which is kind of a relief, in all honesty – not the memory thing, but the card thing – because when she does send them and people ask him if he got any valentines he always hesitates for a second, and then they wheedle the truth out of him and it’s embarrassing, okay?

So he’s not expecting a package to be on the kitchen table when he gets home from school, and he’s certainly not expecting it to be addressed to him.

When he opens it, he’s even more astonished. Because inside, carefully wound in bubble-wrap, are two bottles of a very expensive, very discontinued perfume.

He can only think of two – three at a pinch – people who might have done this, but it’s not his dad’s style (and he wouldn’t have mailed it) and the McCalls don’t have a lot of money going spare. So… so maybe he can think of one other person.

#

Stiles is the designated liaison from Scott’s pack – it’s best to have a human do it for territory reasons, Allison’s clearly a no-go, and Lydia has yet to declare herself for either pack (and besides, she refuses to be in the same room as Peter). He doesn’t go to every meeting by a long shot, but he likes to show his face every now and again even when there’s no hint of trouble brewing. It’s good to foster diplomacy, plus it’s interesting for him to observe how their pack functions. So he shows up Friday night.

He braces himself for funny looks when they notice his scent, but actually, only Erica flares her nostrils and narrows her eyes. Boyd ignores him – no change there; Peter smirks, which, again, kind of par for the course; Isaac either doesn’t notice or politely pretends not to.

It’s Derek who surprises him. He meets his eyes and gives him a small, approving smile, and it confirms the suspicions that Stiles hadn’t really let himself think about. He tunes out a little for the rest of the meeting, which is nothing very pressing anyway – the full moon is over a week away, and there’s nothing sinister going on ( _that they know of_ , he thinks darkly), so it’s mostly standard stuff about strengthening anchors and how everyone’s doing at school and Erica teasing Derek about his new bar job, and everybody except Isaac acting very coolly towards Peter, and Isaac overcompensating by sitting right next to him.

He hangs back after, which he anticipates being awkward enough, but what makes it more awkward is that Erica hangs back too, and Boyd waits for her. Isaac lives here anyway and has gone to his room, and Peter has slithered off into the night or whatever, but he doesn’t want to . So he kind of loiters in the doorway trying to look unobtrusive while Erica hugs Derek and whispers something to him, looking a little teary-eyed. She glances significantly at Boyd, who rolls his eyes and hugs Derek, looking like someone being forced to kiss their grandma, but Stiles wonders if maybe it’s bluster because when Derek playfully pushes him away he doesn’t move back until Erica drags him out of the apartment by the hand.

Stiles takes it as his cue to amble towards Derek.

“I’m starting to feel like a mall Santa.”

“Yeah, well, that’s what you get for mysteriously dispensing presents,” says Stiles. Derek shrugs a little. “Where did you find it?” He’s not going to ask Derek how he knew – he obviously snooped one time he was in Stiles’s room, probably confused by the scent of expensive perfume in amongst the general odour of socks and teenage boy, and since Stiles keeps the bottle in a drawer next to a picture of his mom and some of her jewellery, it fortunately doesn’t take a genius to figure it out. Maybe he should be mad at Derek for sniffing around ( _ha! Sniffing! Shut up Stiles_ ), but he isn’t, so fuck it.

Derek shrugs again. “Y’know. Internet.”

Well, obviously. Stiles would pursue it, but he’s actually intimately familiar with where you can get it and how much it costs, and Derek did a really nice thing for him and now he’s embarrassed, so for once Stiles shuts himself up in time, and just says “would it be weird if I hugged you?”

“Yeah. I mean, I don’t mind, but I don’t think Scott would like it.”

Stiles hums and bounces a little on his knees, kind of at a loss. “Well. So. Did you get stuff for the whole pack, is that why Erica and Boyd were all…” he waves his hand eloquently.

“Yeah.”

“And did anyone get anything for you?”

“No, but. It’s not surprising, I mean – for most people it’s a romantic thing, I know.”

“Was it a family thing, to give each other presents on Valentine’s?” Stiles wonders if he’s pushing it.

“Uh, no. But I like to do things for the pack. Mark occasions with them. It’s important.”

“And me? I’m not pack.”

Derek just shrugs. Stiles gives it a second, to see if it goes anywhere, but it doesn’t. “Thanks, Derek,” he says softly, and makes his way to the door. Then he thinks _fuck it_ and turns on his heal. “Scott can deal,” he says before hugging Derek, and properly, too, not like Boyd, pretending he’s above it. He’s gonna give him a better hug than Erica, damn it. Maybe squeeze a little tighter to make up for the lack of boobs.

Derek just stands there.

“Right, well, gotta go,” says Stiles and hurries out, trying not to die of embarrassment.

#

The next year, Stiles gets something for Derek. And he makes sure everyone else does, too, because it’s not _just_ a romantic thing.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry guys, I wrote this in a hurry! I just loved the idea so much, and I wanted to get it out while I could still claim it was for Valentine's Day, so I bashed it out.


End file.
